Fact Check: New John Morse and Angela Giron ads

The Colorado senators fighting to keep their seats at the capitol have both put out TV ads urging voters not to recall them. That comes a little over a month until the recall elections for Senate President John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo.

Notably missing from both ads is any mention of the controversial gun control legislation that sparked the recall efforts.

Another similarity is misleading information about exactly who’s behind those efforts, with both ads citing “extreme groups from Denver.”

A spokeswoman for A Whole Lot of People For John Morse, the group that created the ad, says the line is referencing the fact that there have been plenty of outside contributions to the recall campaign, including money from Denver.

But the bottom line is, the recall signatures were collected from local voters, in Colorado Springs for Morse and Pueblo for Giron. And the beginnings of the recall attempt for Giron was as grassroots as it gets: a 28-year-old Pueblo plumber and his brother got it going.

“The two gentlemen that started this, they are not the type of people you would label special interest,” said political analyst Clarissa Arellano. “You know, blue collar workers from Pueblo, the core of that community. To suggest that outside sources and special interests drove that campaign, that is a low blow.”

In watching both ads, a person could be led to believe that each recall election will cost over $330,000. That’s actually the estimated combined cost for both elections, $151,000 for El Paso County and about $180,000 for Pueblo County.

Giron’s ad also says that she’s being recalled “even though Giron is already on the ballot a year from now,” which is inaccurate.

“It could be assumed she’ll be running for re-election and she’ll be the designated candidate, but she’s not on the ballot a year from now. That’s not the law,” said Arellano.

The recall elections are scheduled for September 10th.